


You are a sweet relief, you save me from my brain

by cutebutpsyco



Series: Writer’s month 2019 [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bittersweet, Mention of Unhealthy Relationship, Multi, Not Pepperony friendly, OT3, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Short & Sweet, Shorts, Stephen is the only person who knows, Tony Stark Has Issues, tony and nat are alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 23:09:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20072143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutebutpsyco/pseuds/cutebutpsyco
Summary: For an instant, he was waiting for another face, for a different expression. Not the one he met. He shook his head, trying to push back the look of utter annoyance that he waited to be on Nat’s face. It wasn’t there. She wasn’t bothered by his tendencies to zoning out, to go in some place of his mind where neither she or Stephen could follow. It was weird, for him.





	You are a sweet relief, you save me from my brain

**Author's Note:**

> This is your last warning: this fic isn't pepperony friendly. Pepper isn't mentioned in this fic, but I'm pretty sure that whoever ships them can see that she's not portrayed in a good light in this one. I'm very opinionated about her and about how this relationship has been shown during the entirety of the MCU movies and I'm extremely salty after having seen the deleted scenes.  
So, as always, don't like, don't read it! 
> 
> Then, just pretend Stephen goes in the Soul Dimension to save all the people who died because of the Stones (I touched this theme in other fics and I'm pretty possessive over this headcanon of mine, simply go with the fact that if you died because of the stones your soul is in the limbo that the Soul Dimension is, it doesn't have to make sense for Marvel cause a lot of the things they did in Endgame didn't make sense for us), he brought Tony and Nat back but they didn't want for their liveness to be exposed to the public, so they stayed at the Sanctum. They are in love, and happy. And they cook a lot! 
> 
> That said, this was written for the first prompt of writermonth on tumblr (Word prompt: annoyance) and I didn't plan to write it until I saw that deleted scene. Also, today is polyshipping day on tumblr so double yay! 
> 
> As always, nothing belongs to me, and this isn't beta read. Title from Joy by Bastille

There was something relaxing in cooking. Tony had never been good at it if he had to be honest with himself, and he was sure that everyone who had been around him for half a day was well aware of his incompatibility with the cookers, but still, he liked it. 

He couldn’t imagine what was like to cook every day and wasn’t going to fire his cook anytime soon, but he found himself treasuring the moments when he, Nat and Stephen could share the kitchen. It was domestic, and domesticity was the only thing they needed. 

After the invasion of New York, he wouldn’t have believed to anyone who told him at some point being in a place filled with magic would become something he cherished, but apparently, he did. Just like he would have called bullshit to anyone who’d told him Tony Stark would have been a secret hidden somewhere. He was. Both him and Nat were. And the funny thing was that they both were fine with it, they both asked for it. 

“Tony,” A soft voice brought him back. “You are doing it again.”

For an instant, he was waiting for another face, for a different expression. Not the one he met. He shook his head, trying to push back the look of utter annoyance that he waited to be on Nat’s face. It wasn’t there. She wasn’t bothered by his tendencies to zoning out, to go in some place of his mind where neither she or Stephen could follow. It was weird, for him. 

He didn’t even realize he dropped the knife until he looked at the thing lying at the bottom of the sink. He didn’t even register the pain of his bleeding fingertip. “I’m sorry, I was doing fine and…”

And he messed up because he couldn’t do anything, not even something as simple as cutting a goddamn vegetable without making a mess out of it. How he could create suits of armour was still a mystery to him when he couldn’t function as a half good human being. A shaking hand took his raising the hurt finger to examine the cut under a better light. He turned to look at steel-blue eyes and orange-golden sparkles and a soft and rare smile. 

“Nothing happened,” Nat said, moving rapidly around the pan and taking it off from the fire before reaching Tony’s other side. Stephen nodded. 

“Do you want me to kiss it better too?” The doctor asked once he finished his job on Tony’s finger. There were no tracks of the unfortunate meeting between the soft skin and the sharp blade of the knife, and it almost seemed like nothing at all had happened. Tony knew better. Tony knew that what just happened was a great thing, didn’t matter how small it might seem to someone else’s eyes. He forced himself to smile. 

“That’d be great!” He beamed, and while his smile was still forced, he was getting there, not asking forgiveness for everything, not being ashamed for not being 100% fine. He was grateful for Stephen and Natasha, they had been by his side since the moment Stephen brought them back from the Soul Dimension, they had shown him what love means and they had always understood him. Stark knew he didn’t deserve them, he didn’t deserve what the fate got him, but he wasn’t one to push away his good luck. 

“Better?” Stephen asked, after having pushed his lips against the soft skin of Tony’s fingertip. Stark knew he wasn’t speaking about the cut. He couldn’t know how, but he simply did. 

“Thank you,” He said, turning a moment later to look at Nat. “You both I mean. For keeping up with me even if I’m a walking mess, and for not being too annoyed by this.”

Nat’s touch against his skin was firm but soft. “We could never.” 

Tony knew he could believe her.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, comments and hi on tumblr @ironstrange-is-the-endgame are always appreciated.  
Hope you liked this =)


End file.
